Weekend Portfolio: Annabel Elgar

Cell 17, McNeil Island Corrections Center, McNeil Island,Washington State, USA. In 2003 Brandon McGeary spent 211 days awaiting trial for smuggling a stolen moon rock. Annabel Elgar, 2015

Specimen found in the trophy cupboard of Fristad fly fishing club, Sweden. Annabel Elgar, 2014

Astronauts from the Apollo 11 and 17 Missions, School Research Project, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Annabel Elgar, 2014

A moonrock, stolen from an educational vehicle, was discovered in an abandoned suitcase in Pantego, Texas, in 2007, sewn into the jacket lining of a George Bush doll

Moon dust stockpile, New Forest, England. Annabel Elgar, 2014

Office drawer, West Virginia. A moon rock was discovered in the home of retired dentist, Robert Conner. Annabel Elgar, 2014

Moon rock kirigami workshop, Nayoro Kindergarten, Nayoro, Japan. Annabel Elgar, 2014

Federal Law Enforcement Storage Unit, Portland, USA.Annabel Elgar, 2014

Evidence- article 5, ransom note and typewriter recovered from a furniture warehouse basement, Texas, USA. Annabel Elgar, 2014

Moon rocks lost in the US postal service, 2004 (investigation ongoing). Annabel Elgar, 2014

Napa County, California, USA (petrified wood). A moon rock gifted to the Rijksmuseum, Netherlands, transpired to be a piece of petrified wood. Annabel Elgar, 2014

Birds of Canada- book presented to Jaymie Matthews by the Canadian government in exchange for a moon rock in his possession. Annabel Elgar, 2014

All images © Annabel Elgar

 

One of the myths surrounding the Apollo Moon Landings is their supposed construction. That the giant leap for mankind was a well-polished hoax on the back of NASA and other organisations is a familiar line: one that permeates conspiracy theories across the planet.

So perhaps it is not so strange that within any context of ‘authentic’ evidence, there is a stand-off with a counter-narrative of a spurious nature. Acknowledging this, Annabel Elgar’s project, Cheating the Moon, which was nominated for the Prix Elysée in 2014-15, takes the stolen and missing Goodwill Moon Rocks of the Apollo 11 and 17 missions as its point of departure. Of the 270 moon rocks that were given to the nations of the world by the Nixon administration shortly after the expeditions, approximately 180 are currently unaccounted for. Within those that remain at large, beyond the researchers and hobbyists that have tracked down some of the specimens, a culture of emergent forgery and theft has high-jacked proceedings. In 1998 an undercover federal law enforcement operation, code named Operation Lunar Eclipse, was created to identify and arrest individuals selling bogus moon rocks and dust.

Under the auspices of such an undercover investigation, Elgar’s project presents an archive of moon rock findings that refers to both factual and fictitious sources, where discerning one from the other becomes a complex proposition. In parallel with the corruption that has pervaded the rocks’ distribution, the slippery nature of truth is given a wide berth in the various locations and contexts that make up this series, some of which are outlined here.
 

To read more on this project and to see more of Annabel's work, click here.